Joan Ross Sorkin

Biography

JOAN ROSS SORKIN is a musical theatre bookwriter and lyricist, opera librettist, playwright and dramaturg. Musical Theatre: Isabelle and The Pretty-Ugly Spell: Vital Theatre; Actors’ Playhouse (Winner, Nat’l Children’s Theatre Award), NYMF (Special Award); Go Green!: NY Children’s Theatre Festival, Second Place: Jackie White Memorial National Children’s Play Writing Award; Monet: York Theatre (dev. reading series), French Consulate (Monet: An Evening of Songs and Story), CAP 21 Writers Residency (Florence Gould Foundation grant); In The Theatre: York (dev. reading series); The Black Swan (Music Theatre of Conn. New Works Festival). York NEO (concert); The Real McCoy: CAP 21/NYU Tisch School for the Arts; Toll-Taker, Toll-Taker: Raw Impressions. Opera: Strange Fruit: Premiere: Long Leaf Opera, NY City Opera/Harlem School of the Arts (concert), NY City Opera VOX. White Witch: Premiere: Symphony Space, Roulette (concert); The Reef: Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize Finalist. Plays: Off-Broadway: (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story (Drama Desk nom., Capathia Jenkins), Jefferson Playhouse, Chicago Humanities Festival. Off-Off Broadway and Regional: various. Cabaret: Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama, The Zipper, Broadway Baby Bistro, Opia, Lincoln Center Library Theatre. Education: KIDS ON STAGE: Founder, Playwright and Director (Emelin Theatre, Rye Arts Center, Scarsdale Schools). Member: Dramatists Guild, BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, ASCAP, League of Professional Theatre Women, New Victory LabWorks Project. www.joanrosssorkin.com.